Bentley Heath

Location

Bentley Heath is to the north of the M40 and east of the M42 which, along with a small but important green belt area, separates the village and its larger neighbours of Dorridge and Knowle from the Birmingham conurbation. It falls in the Meriden Gap and historically was part of Warwickshire. It is 125 metres (400 ft) above sea-level, located on the Midlands Plateau. The village shares the B93 postcode with its larger neighbour Dorridge.

Features

There is a relatively large amount of green space to be found in Bentley Heath, with the park, Bentley Heath School fields and various small greens dotted around the residential roads. In the village itself is the aforementioned C of E school, a butchers, a Co-Operative store, a carpet shop, a Post Office and a newspaper shop. There are two hair salons in the village centre and a GvR pillar box situated under a large oak tree next to the bus stop.

Earliest existence

It is likely that the Heath was first inhabited in Anglo Saxon times. The Domesday Book records the land as belonging to Turchil of Warwick. After changing hands a number of times, the most famous Lord of the Manor was Lord Byron after whose wife Lady Byron Lane in Knowle is named. Widney Manor is referred to back in the reign of Henry III. Bentley Heath was first mentioned in its own right in 1280 where reference was made to the "Heath at Benteley".

Widney Manor came into the ownership of the Holbech family in the reign of Elizabeth I. No one landlord owned the land of Bentley Heath as the estate was split up in 1738; in the mid-19th century the main landowners were Thomas Haydon, Lady Noel Byron and Ann Musgrove.

Around 1850, the Great Western Railway was built, splitting the estate in two. The Muntz family bought some of the land in the latter part of the 19th century.

Bentley Heath Church of England Primary School

Bentley Heath C of E Primary School is the only primary school in the village. The current headmaster is Mr. Andrew Williams.